has earned the confidence of his conference and the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. [ applause ] he is a man of faith. faith in god and faith in our country and faith in his family. as we congratulate him, we also congratulate and thank his wife debbie and their two daughters lindsay and trisha and the entire boehner family. speaker boehner i know all too well we will not always agree, but i hope with all my heart that we will find common ground that is a higher, better place

for our country. surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. so beautifully expressed by president lincoln. this is the people's house. this is the people's gavel. it represents a sacred trust. may we all fulfill that trust and make real the ideals of democratic government. with respect for our constitution, with faith in the american people, with hope for the future of our country, i present the people's gavel to the speaker of the house, john boehner. may god bless you. [ applause ]

to speaker boehner, may god bless this congress, my god always bless the united states of america. my colleagues, the speaker of the house, john boehner. [ applause ] >> leader pelosi, thank you for your kind words. members of the house and the senate and my wife debbie who is with us today, thankfully the girls are working.

all of you and our fellow country men, we meet again at democracies great. every two years, at this hour the constitution brings a new order to this house. it's an interlude for reflection. a glimpse of old truce. to our new members and families, let me say welcome. i know you are feeling a bit awe struck at this moment. history runs through this building. now you are among a select few. for those of you returning who walked these aisles before, maybe it's time we get a little awe struck again.

the way our founders envisioned it, the republic would be led by citizens who recognize that the blessings that we receive by governing ourselves, it requires that we give something of ourselves. everything depended on this. so that made each other and successors an oath of allegiance. in a few moments, i will take this oath for the 12th time as the representative from the eighth district of ohio. it is word for word the same oath we all take and note it makes no mention of party or faction or title. contains no reference to agendas or platforms. only to the constitution. the one in addition we make as

george washington did at the first inaugural is to invoke the assistance of our heavenly father. this makes the servants posterity and calls us to refuse the pull of passing interest and follow the fixed art of a more perfect union. put simply, we are here not to be something, but to do something. or as i like to call it, doing the right thing. it's a big job and it comes with big challenges. our government has built up too much debt. our economy is not producing enough jobs. these are not separate problems. at $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is draining free

enterprise. the american dream is in peril and so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. jobs will come home and confidence will come back. we do this not just to boost gdp or reduce unemployment, but to secure for our children a future of freedom and opportunity. frankly nothing is more important. as washington wrote in his address we should not throw upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. that burden is ours and so is

the opportunity. there is no substitute for the wisdom of the people. we here are their servants. as speaker, i pledge to listen and to do all i can to help all of you carry out your oath of office that we are all about to take. because in our hearts we know it's wrong to pass this debt on to our kids and grandkids. now we have to be willing, truly willing to make this problem right. public service was never meant to be an easy living. extraordinary challenges to man, extraordinary leadership. if you have come here to see your name in the lights or pass off a political victory as accomplishment, you have come to the wrong place. the door is behind you. you come here humbled by the

opportunity to serve. if you have come to be the determined voice of the people, you have come here to carry the standard of leadership not by constituents, but by the times, then you have come to the right place. there is a time for every purpose under heaven. for the 113th congress, it is a time to rise. when the day is over, the verdict is read. maybe it said that we well and faithfully did our duty to ensure freedom and that freedom will endure and prevail, so help us god.

i am now ready to take the oath of office and i will ask the honorable john dingle of michigan to administer the oath of office. >> governor from ohio. please raise his right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same. that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the

duties of the office on which you are about to enter so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations, mr. speaker. >> according to precedent, the chair will swear in the members en masse so all members elect will rise and the chair will now administer the oath of office. if all members-elect will raise their right hands. do you solemnly wear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance and

take this obligation freely without mental reservation or purpose of evasion and you will faithfully discharge the duties on the office of which you are about to enter, so help you god. >> i do. >> you are now a member of the 113th congress. >> the house will be in order.

the house will be in order. the chair recognizes the gentle lady from washington state. >> mr. speaker, as chair of the republican conference, i am directed by that conference to notify the house officially that the republican members have selected as majority leader the gentlemen from virginia, the honorable eric kantor.

>> the chair recognizes the gentlemen from california, mr. basera. >> as chairman of the democratic caucus, i have have been directed that the democratic members select said as minority leader the gentle woman from the state of california, the honorable nancy pelosi. >> we recognize the lady from washington state. >> as chair of the republican conference, i am directed by that conference to notify the house officially that the republican members have selected as majority the gentlemen from california, the honorable kevin mccarthy.

>> the chair recognizes the gentlemen from california, mr. basera. >> as chairman of the democratic caucus, i have been directed to report the democratic members selected as minority assistant democratic leader, the gentlemen from south carolina, the honorable james clyburn. >> recognizes the gentle lady from washington state.

>> mr. speaker, i offer a privileged resolution and asked for immediate consideration. >> the clerk will report the resolution. >> house resolution one resolved. karen l. hoss of the state of maryland will be and chosen the clerk of the house of representatives and paul d. irving is chosen. >> the 113th congress are officially beginning their business and getting ready for two years of activity and the new speaker is the old speaker. there was never much doubt that john boehner would be reelected speaker of the house and no doubt that nancy pelosi would be reelected the minority leader of the house of representatives. our senior congressional correspondent, a historic day for the united states of america. an important day and you saw

john boehner once again over the past hour or so as usual gets very emotional on these momentous occasions. >> here sure does. as gar an teed as the sunrising in the morning that he will break down when he gives a gives a major address. there were a couple of interesting points that we should talk about. one is he talked about the fact that perhaps people should be a little more awe struck about where they are here. a clear message to everybody that you have to take what you are doing here seriously. he understands how tough it has been not just for him but for the country to watch this congress and washington come to the brink over the past week or so on the fiscal cliff issue. the other thing is you should come here to do something and not to be something. that is part of a nod that he gave to the many conservatives

who do very much stand on principal and don't care about whether or not they are going to get reelected. don't care about whether or not they are going to be seen as bad guys by some portion of the country. they want to do what they came to do here. which is for the most part cut federal spending and keep taxes low. there were a couple of messages in the speech. >> let me bring in gloria borger. as we watch, not a lot of new faces among the leadership right there. you saw the republican leadership basically remaining the same with eric kantor and the majority leader. >> it's the same leadership and there is a new question and the new question is who is going to speak for the republican party in this next session of congress. we just saw a vote on the fiscal

cliff where john boehner voted one way. his number two voted in another direction and number three. what we saw for the first time in that fiscal cliff vote for a long time is legislation got passed in the house without a majority of the majority. in other words, boehner's majority didn't vote for it overwhelmingly, yet legislation can get passed. we don't know whether the speaker would be willing to do that again, but we will have to wait and see if the speaker does speak for his caucus anymore or whether it continues to be divided because that is something the white house is of course looking at as they think the legislation they want to get through the congress. >> let me bring out jim acosta who has been looking at the new faces coming here to washington. new faces in the senate as well as the house of representatives.

84 house freshmen elected and three have been sworn in. 12 newly elected senators and eight democrats and three republicans and one independent from maine. 13 if you count tim scott and now former congressman and u.s. senator from south carolina taking over and jim demint giving up his seat to be a head of the heritage foundation in washington, d.c. it's an interesting mix on both the house and the senate side. >> that's right, wolf. just about an hour ago we saw something that wrapped up over here that was very interesting. elizabeth warren who was the senator from massachusetts, she is replacing scott brown who she beat last november. they had a very boisterous swearing in for her here in the office building on the capital. i have to tell you, she was coming out feisty today. i had a chance to interaction as

she was heading in and asked her, will you be working across party lines and see both sides working together? she would only say i hope so. then she came out and gave a very feisty speech to a big cheering group of supporters. i had a chance to talk to david axelrod who was a former top adviser to president obama as reelection campaign and he was attending this ceremony and saying it's ironic how a lot of them tried to stop her from making her way not only into the senate, but regulating the banking industry and he said they will have to yield the floor. that's on one side of the aisle. on the other side, i had a chance to catch up with ted cruz, the incoming senator from texas and a conservative republican and asked him will be you compromising and working on compromise? he didn't answer that question and he hopes to solve problems and he went on to call the fiscal cliff agreement a lousy deal. while we are seeing much more

diversity up here, 100 women members of congress, it may be getting more partisan as well. >> it probably will be. the next two years will be lively. let's go back to dana. the vote for john boehner was pretty lopsided. a few and a little bit of grumbling. explain to our viewers what happened. >> obviously he was reelected as speaker, but there were about a dozen republicans and we are still trying to make sure we have the final count right. about a dozen republican who is did not vote for him. protest votes. some voted for eric kantor and other members of the caucus. so that was definitely a symbolic way for them to say we don't think john boehner has done a good job and done the job that they expect him to do. a couple of the votes for somebody else came from members who had not been sworn in yet.

brand-new republican members. from oklahoma, for example and from northern florida. both of them are very, very conservative. one primaries and at least in one case they won against a long time incumbent republican. those are some of the voices that really have been giving him a hard time and made it very difficult for him to rally republicans and rally the caucus for some kind of deal whether the one he was trying to do with the president most recently on the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling am. all in all, the speaker had a large support from his members and it is not unusual for speakers, republicans and democrats to have dissent within. nancy pelosi had several democrats not vote for her. gabby giffords voted for john

lewis not so much as a protest, but a way as saying she didn't support the liberal speaker. it is an unusual thing, but the buzz and the discussion about boehner had to do with the fact that he has not had a great couple of weeks. the deal dying and the package blowing up when he pulled it forward. >> he did get it passed and voted along with the majority and it was a minority and a lot more republicans voted and allowed the fiscal cliff to be passed. he was with the minority and the majority if you will on the republican side. that was embarrassing for a speaker of the house. as you pointed out, he made a point of voting and advertising the vote and the speakers don't necessarily have to vote. they do so when they think there

is a powerful message they want to send and he sent that powerful message. he was not about to see 98 percent per of families, people earning $450,000 a year to see taxes going up and he wanted to make that point and has been reelected speaker of the house. we will have highlights of this historic day in washington. we will take a quick break and much more of the breaking news after this. dad. listen, we're gonna go broke unless we figure out a way to divvy up this shared data plan...fairly. so, um, whoever's fathered the most children, gets the most data.

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>> we are here in washington watching an historic day indeed starting the 113th congress. members of the senate and members of the house of representatives. they have been sworn in and the speaker of the house, john boehner is reelected. nancy pelosi is reelected. the minority leader and the house have begun the business of the u.s. senate and house of representatives. freshman lawmakers did the paperwork and pounded the pavements to get to their seats and recognized one member who overcame bigger hurdles to reach the capital. senator mark kirk, the republican from illinois suffered a severe stroke a year ago. he spent this past year in physical therapy learning to walk again. vice president joe biden was there to welcome senator kirk as

he climbed the steps of the u.s. capital. . >> what a dramatic moment indeed with the vice president. he is doing it one step at a time. it has been a very, very tough difficult year. he is managing to move forward.

we congratulate him and all the members of the house. the new congress will have to take one step at a time. they have major issues. they have a deal on the sequestration and that's the mandatory domestic and security spending cuts that members hate and they have a deal with the whole issue issue of moving forward. the united states does not go into default and make sure the government continues to operate. >> that's before they get to the agenda. >> they have crisis after crisis. >> that's before they get to the agenda like immigration reform and gun control and energy policy so they have got to get through all of these speed bumps before they can even get to the topics that are part of the

president's second term. a couple of things have happened that we ought to take note of. the fiscal cliff was messy and didn't produce an awful lot of out come. what we did see is some republicans could actually vote for tax increase. even if it was only on the wealthiest individuals, they had sworn up and down they would never do that. they did it and lived another day. >> the tax rate on the wealthiest income earners went from 35% to 39.6%. >> off the table now. done. that was the big topic in the campaign. the next big topic is more republican surf. this is more comfortable and reducing the size of government and cutting spending and looking at entitlement programs like medicare and social security and finding ways to make sure they

don't go bust and keep them from spiraling out of control. the big question is who is going to lead the republican party in the conversations with the white house and the democrats on this. we don't know. john boehner hadn't had such a good couple of weeks. will it be senator mcconnell again who managed to kind of deal with joe biden? don't forget senator connell is up for reelection and is afraid of republicans running to his right will it be eric kantor? we see the same leadership, but we are not actually sure who is going to be cutting these deals if deals are going to be cut. another name is paul ryan voted for the fiscal cliff deal to the disappointment of many conservatives. he now becomes somebody as chairman of the budget committee who can cut these. >> you have to give mitch

connell. he may be up for reelection and worried about a primary. he stood firm and worked out the deal with joe biden, the vice president of the united states and delivered an 89-8 lopsided majority. >> it took him less than a week. today he had an op ed he wrote talking about the spending cuts saying we are not going to give and didn't do that tax deal. he kind of comes to us. >> the tax increases we are talking about spending cuts. woo will have more later in "the situation room." we will be back. my special interview and exclusive interview with the former white house chief of staff. half of the bowles simpson joining me in "the situation room." up next, less than 24 hours since hillary clinton leaves the hospital, when the secretary of state will be returning to work. stand by for that.

just a short time from now, students from sandy hook elementary school will be leaving school on the first day back since that tragic shooting in newtown, connecticut. we'll speak with parents coming up as well.

>> in for brooke baldwin, we will have more on the opening of the 113th congress. let's look at other news right now. secretary of state hillary clinton is planning to return to work next week. we don't know if that includes testifying about the terror attack on a u.s. mission in benghazi, libya. clinton was discharged from a new york hospital after being treated for a blood clot. her spokes woman said doctors expect clinton to make a full recovery, but no word on when she may testify about the benghazi attack. a new report out shows private employers added 215,000 jobs last month. these are's precursor to the labor department report out tomorrow. job growth to the tune of 150,000 expected in that one and this slowly improving jobs market had more people buying cars. felicia taylor is at the stock

exchange. they have been reporting sales figures all day. give us an idea of who is on top and what this says about the state of the economy. >> it's definitely a good sign. no question about it. it seems that people are getting more comfortable making these big purchases. when you look at the big three, it was chrysler that led the way with a 10% sales gain in december. gm did well also posting a 5% rise. fort saw a small increase of 2%. toyota we are going to include because the sales rose 9% and obviously that is managing to beat out the arch rival of gm in december. it wraps up the best year for car sales in the united states since before the recession. it's great news that things are moving in the right direction. there is still a tremendous uncertainty about the economy. you have to wonder why are people buying? there is one answer. lenders are more generous about

giving auto loans and people have the cash to do so. there has been a slight improvement in the jobs market that you mentioned. people have been more comfortable and confident with their financial situations. that's unleashed pent up demand from when it was doing a lot worse as you well remember. >> that's for sure. we have a lot of uncertainty in just two months. we will have to start talking about the debt ceiling that is another issue. thank you. in connecticut, sandy hook elementary students return to class today for the first time since the tragic chuting in newtown. a short time from now, they will be getting out of class. we will hear from parents coming up next.

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elementary in newtown, connecticut are wrapping up their first day in class since a gunman killed 20 classmates and six adults. buses rolled up to a middle school in nearby monroe. the building has been reconfigured to look as much like the former school as possible. they were greeted by ribbon of green, the school color. >> most of the kids were excited at seeing friends they hadn't seen in a while. they were anxious to get into the hall ways and meet up. you can see the teachers had the same response. they were excited to see the students all together. >> really any anxiety i had was myself. once seeing the kids were excited to be back and happy and the environment of the school, i can't think of a better place to lef them. if i can't be with them, the teachers and the staff are amazing. >> inside the building, the kids found classrooms like the old ones down to the crayons.

they found a familiar face, former sandy hook principal donna pajay came out of retirement as an interim. even the beloved pet turtle shelly made the transition to the new elementary school. >> a new york couple from a ritzy neighborhood behind bars. police are shocked about what they found in the couple's apartment. we are on the case and the outrage in india continues after a gang rape that left a woman dead. the victim's family and father said he wents those charge took hanged. back from a devastating tornado. man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we're a leading global insurance company, based right here in america. we've repaid every dollar america lent us. everything, plus a profit of more than $22 billion. for the american people. thank you, america. helping people recover and rebuild -- that's what we do. now let's bring on tomorrow.

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her deadly gang rape on a new delhi bus sparked mass protests. police charged five men with her murder, rape, and kidnapping. this is a scene outside the court today under india's fast track system. the trial could start as early as this week. cnn has more. >> the indian police have formally charged five of the six suspects and the deadly gang rape that shocked the nation. five of the six suspects face charges of murder and abduction and rape among other charges. one of the charges is supposedly a juvenile 17 years old and will be dealt separately by a different court. the maximum penalty is the death penalty and that's exactly what

a lot of these protesters have been braving the cold for the past two weeks and demanded that they be hanged and also the victim's father came out yesterday and is demanding the death penalty for the suspects. with thousands protesting the recent gang rape that led to the death of a medical student in new delhi, they are demanding the harshest possible punishment for attackers. though the 23-year-old has not been publicly identified, her father went on camera to demand justice. >> translator: laws are made by the government, but all i ask is that the law be the toughest it can be. the death penalty is compulsory and the assailants must be hanged. >> a sentiment chair shared by most who brave the cold to march honor the country's founding

father, gandhi. the death penalty is rarely carried out, but this is what is needed for the immunity given to rapists here. >> i believe this rally will have a huge impact on the women of delhi and the rest of the country. it will lead a mark and send a message that heinous crimes will not happen again. >> every 17 hours a woman is raped here. this victim say martyr, a symbol of the daily suffering and rape victims must endure. one reason the victim in this case has not been publicly identified. she has been dubbed fearless and lightning and precious. lawmakers are suggesting a new rape law be named in her honor. they had a road on twitter wondering what interest is served. why not name and honor her as a real person with her own

identity. the victim's father agreed. >> the law should be named after the girl. >> there was's question as to whether the suspects will be given a fair trial because some of the lawyers from that fast track refused to defend the accused on moral grounds. they will have to appoint a defense lawyer. joe? >> reporting for new delhi, if you for that. a newspaper that posted the names and addresses for people hired armed guards. what prompted the move next. or you could watch the earnings report and take notes, like we're supposed to. so... can i get it? yeah. okay either of you put together the earnings report? yes, me totally. why don't you tackle the next quarter while we go to lunch. pu pu platter? yup! keep up the good work. i will keep up the good work. do more with the new

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a wealthy manhattan couple hooked on heroin and an apparent fascination with terrorism now under arrest. morgan and erin are accuse of keeping an arsenal of weapons and encyclopedia in their apartment. police evacuated the area after allegedly finding seven grams of hmtd, a dangerous white powder. how al qaeda used it in the london terror attacks. how she gave birth in jail to the couple's first child.

they believe to be wealthy heroin addicts with no link to terrorism. let's bring in cnn legal contributor. they were arrested on weapons charges. how much trouble do you think these two people are in and is there a way in your mind to discern criminal intent from the items that people seized? >> the changes are very, very serious. this substance, hmtd, is considered to be a high explosive. it has been used in the london terrorist bombings that occurred a few years back. it's a very, very dangerous substance. they recovered according to records, two shotguns, a terrorist enpsychiedia and others for engaging in terroristic activity. the crime is a very serious felony under new york law. they appear not to have any serious prior record they could

be facing prison time if convicted. on the motive, very, very hard to say. i have through some of my sources heard that one of the two is known as ann ark kist. it could in fact be a political movement from within the united states. we are awaiting more information and we don't have any at this point in time. >> worth following up. another topic now, a newspaper outside new york hired armed guards to deal with the outcry after posting addresses of gun permit owners. you know the story. the journal news said they received an envelope containing suspicious white powder and the police say the substance was not dangerous and the newspaper posted this map you see here online showing gun permit holders in two counties. when they asked for the name of

gun owners in a third county, the clerk refused to give them the names. is it up to the clerk to determine whether he can deny a freedom of information request? >> it's not. under new york law and our law is similar in new york to laws in other states, if something is a matter of public record and people who apply to have guns, that's a matter of public record in new york. the newspaper has a right to publish that and get that information through freedom of information law. the clerk in this putnam county area is now refusing to give the information out. he can be hauled into court and they will get involved. he can make the decision to deny given the information over, but this is going to be decided by the attorney general of new york and somebody in higher authority. it's an important principal with open and free public records. >> you would suspect this case everybody is getting lawyered up

and who can sue the gun permit holders. can they sue the newspaper? >> they can't really. under new york law if you apply for a gun, that's a public record. the freedom of information law in new york says that some records can be kept secret. your report record fist you went to a report wouldn't be open to public disclosure, but the statute that creates the right to apply for a gun had to include a provision with the secret information. it doesn't have that provision. these are public records. we are talking about ethics. should the paper have published this and did they put them in danger? whether it's legal or not, the papers had the legal right to publish these names if they wanted to.

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fault? >> it is clearly an admission and that is what is so significant with the settlement with the government. the justice department putting out a statement saying this is a transocean saying they were negligent in their role in the disaster that happened in the gulf 2 1/2 years ago. what it is also saying is this company is agreeing to criminal and civil penalties. at this point the justice department now done with transocean after transocean agreeing to admit to guilt and to pay that $1.4 billion settlement. that was criminal costs and some of that money will be going to the gulf states to help pay for repairs and for continued management of some of those biological areas hit hard by the dafter. >> where does it stand? bp has civil claims pending and the question is whether transocean now has gotten a case

closed. >> well, case closed with the u.s. government, yes. all parties involved in this are pointing the finger at another. they had to pay 4.5 billion to the u.s. government and that was a settlement they reached in november on the criminal aspect. they are looking at working out a figure and what they are going to pay in terms of clean water act penalties. that could be billions more and they always argue and putting out a statement pointing out the fact that there were multiple parties and causes that led to the disaster and they are pointing out that transocean is admitting to its part in the disaster and waiting for halliburton to do the same. we reached out to halliburton for a statement and have not heard back. >> thanks so much for that report. . >> the top of the hour, i'm joe

johns for brooke baldwin. today despite days of criticism, john boehner keeps his job as speaker of the house. >> for the honorable john a. boehner having received a majority of the votes cast is duley elected for the house of representatives. >> as speaker his first official words were one of welcome and warning to a new congress. >> our government has built up too much debt. our economy is not producing enough jobs. these are not separate problems. $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is training free enterprise and weakening the ship. the american dream is in peril so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor the

debt. we begin to set our economy free and jobs will come home and confidence will come back. >> let's bring in dana bash. there was an interesting moment involving the vote. what happened? >> we have been reporting on the fact that there is discontent within the republican caucus with john boehner. the discontent is more general frustration and republicans run the house and they haven't been able to do what the mostardent supporters with spending cuts and tax cuts want to do, take advantage of the house minority. it was born out in symbolic votes for other people. people other than the house speaker. we saw that from a couple of the brand-new members who were just sworn in, but the other interesting note that we found

out about is that two of the outli ou outliars were not there. they were actually actively trying to recruit people to vote against boehner and force a second vote. that's the way it would have worked. the process is if somebody doesn't get a majority, they were not able to get the republicans to do that. perhaps because the people who were doing it don't have a deep reservoir of support with themselves in the caucus. it made for a very interesting and very different moment from two years ago when the speaker was first voted as speaker and of course he had the unanimous support. >> the palace continued. boehner has 84 new members in the house and 13 new senators in the first day on the job.

113th session of congress has begun. it is already making history and many including more women senators than ever before. 58 women in the house and they took a moment on the capitol steps with nancy pelosi front and center. inside the building, the new senators were sworn in first. >> raise your right hand. do you sell emly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear truth faith and allegiance and take this obligation freely without mental reservation or purpose of evasion and you will faithfully discharge the duties on which you are about to enter so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations, senator. hope you enjoy. >> look closely at the picture. you are seeing familiar faces because along with the new senators, members were also taking the oath as they begin their term. several hours later, once the

speaker was elected, new house members were sworn in. >> according to precedent, the chair will swear in the members en masse so all members-elect will rise and the chair will administer the oath of office. if all members-elect will raise their right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm to support the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear truth faith and take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you were about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations. you are now a member of the 113th congress. >> a total of 97 new members in the united states house and the senate. dana, let's talk about the freshmen to watch out for.

>> i think we should talk about two of the senators who are most note worthy for various reasons. let's start with the person on your screen. elizabeth warren, the senator from massachusetts who beat the republican scott brown. the reason why she is so interesting is she is coming in as somebody who has a very big national profile. she was the darling of the liberal side because she has been a consumer advocate and one of the most ironic things is she is coming in to serve in a body that would not allow her to be approved as the official consumer advocate. the senators blocked her nomination and there is irony there. on the republican side, one person that is going to hava i lot of attention on him is ted cruz, the new senator from texas. he is a latino and has been outspoken about the problems that his party has with the

latino community which is problematic for the growth of the party as we very much saw in this last election with the majority of white men not being enough of a majority to elect republicans. the other reason is more internal party politics. he was not initially the person who the republican establishment here wanted. he was able to win just like many other tea party-packed republicans in primary fights. he might be somebody to add to the list of people who might not always go along with republican leaders. >> that friction that made it so hard for john boehner to lead apparently continues in the house of representatives. dana bash, thanks so much. joining us now from the capitol, one of the newly minted members of congress even though she is a freshman, ann wagner is no novice. she is chair of the party and served as cochair of the republican national committee.

ann wagner, how does it feel to be a member of congress and how is the first day so far? >> it's fantastic. it has been a full day and a whirl wind, but we are ready to get to work. it's a privilege to be here in the people's house and i look forward to serving my constituents in the second congressional districts in the metropolitan area. >> what do you make of the dozen or so members of the caucus that cast protests against congress men and speaker boehner as he was being reelected? why the protest? >> it's the house and the house, they like to mix it up. i have seen it from the beginning of coming into the orientation time. we have seen it over the last 112th congress. people like to speak their minds and want transparency and want to be heard. we are open to that dilogy, but there is tremendous support for speaker boehner and the

leadership and what there is support for needs to be bipartisan support for reigning in our spending and doing something to attack the massive debt and fiscal glide that we are on right now. >> to that end, you watched with interest the vote on the fiscal cliff with speaker boehner and congressman ryan and others all in favor of it, but there were a lot of republicans who didn't think too much of it. they have said so. how would you have voted? >> i would not have supported the fiscal cliff bill put through at the nth hour. that piece of legislation was sent to the senate over five months ago on august 1st. it should have been taken up by the senate. the president should have shown leadership in trying to move things forward before the nth hour. it cut no spending. it did really only raise the debt and add to our trillions of dollars that have got to be

dealt with, otherwise we will mortgage and continue to mortgage our children's future. y am here to get things done. the biggest thing about the congress is we are doers. i have been a doer my entire and this is an important time to do something about this fiscal abyss we are in and do something about spending and debt. do something about entitlement reform and tax reform and these issues that will spur the economy and grow jobs in the second district and across america. >> coming up in the next few months, we will be talking more about cutting spending as well as the debt ceiling. where do you come down? do you think republicans ought to even stand to shut down the government if necessary to reduce spending across the board in the government? >> there has got to be a serious discussion about this. real movement on reigning in our spending and doing something to attack this out of control

deficit. when president obama came to office over a term ago and just in 2008, 2009, we were $10 trillion and we are north of $16 trillion and on a trajectory to $22 trillion of debt. this is not sustainable. any discussion about the debt ceiling has to include some kind of real transparent and fundamental cuts in the spending. that dialogue is something that i am most interested in being a part of. >> like to get you on the record quickly on gun control considering your home district. where do you stand and do you think the country is ready for a gun control bill out of the obama administration? >> i think we should take the tragedy that happened in newtown and have a full comprehensive dialogue about all issues whether it has to do with mental health or whether it has to do with this social decline of our

young people and some of the things they are exposed to and whether it has to do with the firearms and guns. there multiple things that has to be done to keep children and secure. i think that we need to have a dialogue on all of these issues before moving forward. i look forward to being a part of that dialogue also. >> you have been around politics for a long time and this is the first time we called you congresswoman. good to see you. >> it's a privilege. thank you very much. >> in connecticut sandy hook elementary students return to class today for the first time since the tragic shooting in newtown, connecticut. just a short time from now, they will be getting out of class. you will hear from parents accident next. to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger,

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. the children of sandy hook elementary have wrapped up their first day back in class since the massacre that claimed 20 classimates and six members of the staff. near the monroe, connecticut middle school has been reconfigured to resemble their former school in newtown. what are you hearing from the parents? >> joe, we can tell you that the teachers and staff of sandy hook pulled off nothing short of a small miracle. they greeted everyone with hugs this morning. the kindergarteners talked about what they did over christmas vacation. the fourth graders got used to their new environment. it was an amazing day according to mom. what the teachers and the staff were able to do is restore badly needed routine. take a listen. >> any anxiety i had was myself. once seeing the kids were excited to be back and happy and

the environment in the school, i can't think of a better place. if i can't be with them, the teachers and the staff and everybody are amazing. >> they haven't -- you know there is security that was the security visible and did that give you comfort? >> i was happy that the media and i thank you for staying away from the bus routes. only seeing police officers coming in and out. as for making me feel more secure, i don't know if that makes a difference to me. the teachers did a better job at making us feel welcome back again. and happy they are there. honestly, they were thes who protected our children. >> the school is a little bit further, but is it the right place for your girl? >> to keep them together, that's all that's important. >> let me ask you, what was your

favorite class today? >> the library. >> what was the thing that was the most different about your new class? >> the room. >> it looked different, right? >> yes. >> did you feel comfortable in that room? >> yes. >> so are you happy you will be going to this school and you have a place to go? >> yes. >> thank you both so very much. when you think of the other parents, did the majority get together? >> i think this was a big healing point as a first step forward to get them back to school and to see that things are going back into a semblance of what they were prior to. >> there was a lot of energy inside that building. it had been refurbished to look as much as possible as the old

sandy hook elementary school and there were therapy dogs for those who needed it and the parents were on hand. if they needed to go into the class, they were welcome to do so and the parents met with the principal and superintendent. the big questions were specifically what if the child begins to appear that they need to talk to the counsellor? those were the questions asked. one father who said he put his boys on a school bus and they didn't look back, perception and reality are different, but judging by perception, it was good. it was really good. that is a quote. joe? >> perception certainly. that is about everything at this stage. thank you very much. radio host glen beck wanted his own network and made a bit for current tv, but turned down. find out why and what al jazeera will do with access to 60 million american homes.

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arab-owned al jazeera is about to introduce itself to millions more people in america. al gore apparently lined to net millions of dollars from the purchase of the gore-founded network current tv. the reported sale price is a half billion dollars. al jazeera is owned by qatar and covers the mideast like no one's business. it is independent, but critics charge it has an anti-american bias and whips up trouble. the purchase of current tv can

post a 60 million viewers on cable. now from new york, lauren ash burn and editor in chief of daily download. listen if you would to secretary of state hillary clinton testifying before congress. clinton sounds like a fan of al jazeera. >> like it or hate it, it is really effective. in fact viewership of al jazeera is going up in the united states because it's real news. >> lauren, answer that question for you. if your view, is it real news and give us background about why this sale is going on in the first place. . >> you have to be clear about what al jazeera is and al jazeera english is. al jazeera aired osama bin laden clips. english has won several awards for reporting. they are very different.

i think what al jazeera is trying to do and it is owned by qatar which is odd for al gore to be sending tote government that produces oil and he is mr. global warming. i find that odd, but he has done it. what they are trying to do is reach a larger american audience, but will that happen? i think they have a big pr uphill battle going forward for two reasons. the ratings were terrible and lousy and internet sites had better ratings than current. i can see why they would have those problems. not sure whether or not the carriage will continue. >> there has been this charge and i heard from conservatives and even some liberals and democrats on the other side. al jazeera insights radical

elements in part in the middle east. is that a fair assessment? >> it's called the terror network. earlier osama bin laden appeared on it and that's where that cams from, but al jazeera english has been bringing as al jazeera says, independent and insightful news to americans. i think that as hillary clinton was saying, there was some value in it. they covered the mideast. we have reporters who are being cut back and bureaus being cut back from everywhere and don't do a very good job on international reporting. it is up to the public to decide whether or not they will get the news from al jazeera. >> now the "wall street journal" has reported that conservative host glen beck actually expressed interest in purchasing current tv, but the assertion

was that beck was told current tv was not a good ideological fit. they decided to sell to al jazeera. what's your take on that? >> for came back in 15 seconds really. 15 minutes actually. they said no to glen beck. he made an inquiry and 15 minutes later they were saying absolutely not. it would have looked funny for al gore to sell to him. as i said before, it's weird that he wouldn't sell to glen beck, but would sell to al jazeera. i don't know. it doesn't seem that different to me. >> i know. that's quite a story in and of itself. always good to see you. thanks so much. >> you too, joe. take care. >> outrageous tweets and a cell phone picture and now a new video that mocks an alleged rape, all evidence in a case that is dividing one small ohio town. wendy walsh joins me next on the emotions running through the

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she allegedly was raped at parties around the end of the summer. it came to light through shocking tweets. a cell phone picture that shows

the limp victim being carried by her arms and legs and online video that shows young people callusly laughing about it. >> what if that was your daughter? >> but it isn't. if that was my daughter i wouldn't care. i would let her be dead. >> listen to yourself. >> i'm listening to myself fine. >> in about ten years -- >> 10 years, my daughter's going to be raped and dead in years. >> two 16-year-old boys are charged with rape and scheduled to be tried by a juvenile court judge in coming months. i want to bring in wendy walsh. it strikes me there at least a couple of issues here. the alleged treatment of this girl and the attitude of the teenagers talking about it afterwar afterwards. what's going on? >> i listened to the video and it's lengthy and disturbing. it appears to me this video was

the aftermath and the young woman was taken away and love you love youing about it. did she show up on mark's carpet? ha ha ha. they used the word rape cavalierly like she god good and raped. like they were cheering. these are drunkle males and there is a lot of bravado going on and the people operate the camera and egging on the main guy and trying to get him to say more. none the less, very, very disturbing that young males can even talk or think this way. >> there is that question of diminished capacity if there was alcohol involved. >> the big weapon in rape is not a gun or a knife. it is alcohol. it's important for young men to understand that alcohol can be used as a weapon and by the way they were talking, by the tweets and the pictures and the video,

that she was unconscious first. who gave her the alcohol? it doesn't matter. it becomes something that makes her incapable of saying no. >> a loose cooperative known as anonymo anonymous, the group said the town is keeping quiet to protect the football team and threatening to release more information unless everybody comes clean about what happened that night. what's your take on what seems to be internet ridge vigilantes? >> we are living in a time where there is a video, tweet, or recorded conversation that follows you. there is no public or private time. something like ts where there is a victim where we need to see evidence, then this kind of

voyeurism with a cell phone and vigilante you tubing can be a good thing ultimately. >> certainly a very shocking story there. wendy walsh, thanks so much. >> thanks. >> you know actor gerard for his movie green card, but he wants to leave his country because of higher taxes. vladimir putin is involved. wait until you hear it.

russia's plt is taking a tax revolt to a new level. seen in the film life of pi denounced his country eafr pl's over a 75 approximate% tax on millionaires. he called him a country to call home. jim bitter min has a story from paris. jim? >> vladimir putin said if he wants to come to russia, good on him and they will give him a passport and a residency permit if that is what he wants. he is very well-known and involved in publicity campaigns and recently made a film about the mad monk of russia. in the course of making that

film, they have intervened personally in order to get permission for the film company to shoot in the imperial palaces in russia. the two men have got a long standing relationship and in fact he has a relationship with russia. it's probably not so unusual that this proposal would have come down. it is however a little bit of a shock for some french. they said that the kind of things you hear on the street is that it's something of a coward for trying to avoid taxes. his response which was contained in a letter he sent to the prime minister here back before christmas. his response was look, i spend over the last 45 year, 145 million euros on taxes. no one can shame me about how much taxes that i have been paying. i have certainly been done a lot for this count row and he outlines the people he employs that includes some vineyards and two restaurants and a number of

other things. looking like he might accept that offer of russian nationality and leave the country. joe? >> jim bitterman in paris. thanks for that. a husband offers up a kidney so his wife would move up on the list to receive a kidney. cameras were following the real story on realtime. you will see the video, next. i can't imagine anything better. you're getting a ton of shrimp, and it tastes really good! [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's 30 shrimp for just $11.99! choose any two of five savory shrimp selections, like mango jalapeño shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. two delicious shrimp selections on one plate! all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just $11.99 for a limited time. wow, that's a lot of shrimp. i'm ryon stewart, i'm the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differently.

her parents were told she wouldn't live more than a few days. she survived and as an adult spents 20 hours a week on dialysis. no one was a donor match in her family. the waiting list for a new kidney was four to five years. two years later she had a new kidney. sheldon reports it was all thanks to her husband and a program that swaps a kidney for a kidney. >> it's called the shared donor program. it cuts the waiting list from years to two. this is how it works. a person like this receives a new kidney as long as she has a relative willing to donate a kidney to somewhere else anywhere in the u.s. you give 1 to receive one. who will step up? it's her husband, shawn.

he is a mechanic for penn dot. if he donates a kidney to someone, his wife comes off the waiting list immediately to receive a new kidney in return. >> not only am helping a loved one, but i get to extend a helping hand to someone else in the situation. >> you get to give someone in san diego a kidney so your wife can receive one from wisconsin. how good of a deal is that? >> it's a real good deal. >> note real. after signing up, doctors hit shawn with horrible news. he was told he was 50 pounds overweight and had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. the eczema re ex marine said yo useless as a donor. >> i was devastated. pretty hurt. >> shawn spent the next year changing his and diet. he lost the 50 pounds.

doctors marvel at his effort to give his wife hope. >> her coming off the waiting list as early as she did -- >> it's a big deal and makes a big difference. >> she rolled into the operating room at 7:00 a.m. nearly two hours later, doctors remove his right kidney. a member carefully wraps it and prepares it for flight in san diego with someone else waiting to receive it, he upheld his part of the deal. now they a wade jana's kidney coming from from wisconsin. they receive the oregon and head to the hospital. that brings us to the operating room where we look in on jana. they are charged with saving jana's life. the new kidney is in their hands. after two hours and 40 minutes, the new kidney is in place.

>> would you stop! >> it's now 16 months after the transplant. jana and shawn are healthy, happy, and grateful. for jana, no more dialysis or the grind on her body. she is facebook friends with the kidney donor and what's special about this story is that when shawn donated his kidney so that jana could receive one in return, the couple was part of a chain of identical donations that included 60 people. >> that was sheldon inger ham from tw, tae in pittsburgh. the a poura movie theater in colorado is reopening. an invitation went out to families of the vehicles to attend and one is upset about it. she will join me next. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

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disgusting and wholly offensive is what families of the colorado massacre victims are calling an invitation to the reopening of the movie theater to where their loved ones were gunned down. it is scheduled to open january 17th with remembrance ceremony and a movie theater. families are invited and several responded with a resounding no. they said they have shown zero compassion for the families of the vehicles whose loved ones were killed in their theater. they call the offer of a free

movie ticket despicable and say our family members paid for their ticket with their lives. sandy phillips signed that letter and her daughter was one of the 12 people killed in the shooting. tell us about jessica. >> jesse was an aspiring broadcaster and sports journalist living her dream and working part-time and going to school and had three internships to get her to her goal which was to be a sports journalist. she was a delight. she was a ball of energy. she cared deeply about other people. she was a good kid. a very funny, feisty red head that we miss very, very much. >> your family and community still recovering from this

tragedy. do you think this theater should have reopened at all? >> it's a business and it's a large theater in an area that doesn't have a lot of theaters around. we i think most of the families realized it would reopen, but the fact that we were excluded from any input whatsoever, we still just hear rumors of how it's been redesigned. we don't know. we were never asked for any of our -- the families were never asked for input. we reached out early on to cine mark before lawsuits were filed and never received a phone call and never received any condolence letters and nothing from cine mark at all. now it's ironic that now that they would want us to participate in a reopening that

none of us would want to participate in. >> we asked cine mark to respond. we were told the theater has no immediate comment. is there anything at this point they could do to make it right at this point? >> they have been so hurtful to us from the very beginning that i don't think there is anything that they could do to make it better. what they could have done, they should have done months ago. from the night of the massacre. they chose not to. now i think this is just a media ploy to get the families or some of the families perhaps to participate in making them look good. we don't want anything to do with it. it was in poor taste. most of us have never and will never go back into a theater. the scars are too deep and painful.

maybe perhaps some of the people who were wounded it would be closure for them and ability to let them move forward. to us it's not. to not have that sensitivity beforehand and to think through what they were suggesting is really kind of appalling. >> also the colorado organization for victim assistance e-mailed the invitation out to families. were you surprised that a victim's advocacy group would be involved in that? >> yes, we were all shocked. the nine families that have signed the letter, each one of us as we went through the process of opening up that e-mail and reacting to it were just astonished. the one agency that should be protecting us from more assaults and more hurt one that reached

us. so we were very shocked and very appalled. >> this legal action ongoing here, families are suing cinemark over the lost of loved ones. what's your reaction to this lawsuit? >> well, from what i know -- and most of the families are keeping that between themselves -- that is not something that when we do talk with each other that we discuss. i know that there have been lawsuits filed. we have not filed a lawsuit yet. we know that that is something that we can do and are looking at but we have not made that decision. so i can't answer that for the other families. i don't know where they stand and i don't know the ones who have filed. >> we're so sorry for your loss, sandy phillips. thank you for sharing your story with us today. >> well, thank you for covering the story. it's an important one and we appreciate it very much. >> we'll be right back.

we're just minutes away from the top of the hour. that means wolf blitzer and "the situation room." wolf, pretty fascinating moments involving the re-election of house speaker john boehner. not all republicans on board. we see it every couple years. there's always a little bit of intrigue. >> always a little tension. look, be the house of representatives -- 233 republicans in this. the 113th session of the house of representatives. 200 democrats, two vacancies, if

you will. so there's always going to be a few people who aren't necessarily all that happy and he's had some issues over the past few days. he voted in favor of the senate legislation to avert the fis ca cliff. most of his republicans in the house voted against that legislation. but he's starting off, relatively speaking, i think on a good note. i think he's admired, respected. he's going to have his hands full. same republican leadership with eric cantor and mccarthy and nancy pelosi and it's basically the same leadership. let's see if there's any difference over the next two years as opposed to the next two years as you and our viewers remember, it's been pretty bitter. >> that's right, wolf. it's out with the old and in with the old in some ways. have you ever seen a time with so much drama at the very end of one congress and then the start

of a new one so suddenly in. >> i don't remember this much drama. and as you point out, it was new year's eve, new year's day. all of us were working nonstop around the clock. i don't remember a session like that, working as hard as we did on new year's eve and new year's day. and all of the members are in town. they are supposed to be on their little vacation with their families but they are all here in washington getting ready to vote. so it was pretty dramatic, the end and now the beginning of this new sesession. guess what, if you like this, you're going to like what happens over the next few weeks because we have a lot of crises issues that are about to emerge. i interviewsed ersquinne bowles. it's going to air in "the situation room" he's got some

words. >> wolf, always looking forward to the situation room coming up in just minutes. we're also minutes away from the "closing bell." let's go to felicia taylor. felicia? >> adding 115,000 to jobless claims. we also got good news on auto sales. ford, chrysler, gm all having increased sales. but january is going to be a volatile month and then we got the federal reserve minutes and that was available to us and there was some discussion that they may end this bond buying program that's been propping up the stock market for such a long time and that's exactly what wall street doesn't want to hear. so now we've backed into negative it tif territory and will probably end the day down. frank frankly, it's highly unlikely that you would see that kind of gain continue. this little bit of a pullback isn't such a bad thing.

as one analyst said, we only got half a loaf out of washington. we're still waiting to find out if those spending cuts are actually going to happen. joe? >> everyone and felicia, i mean everyone, has been weighing in with thoughts about the fiscal cliff deal. that also includes the country's ratings agencies. >> yep. >> we've got congress reaching in agreement. why are we still at risk of a down grade in. >> the deal just wasn't enough. there are still plenty of things that haven't been agreed upon. mile moodys will raise $600 billion in tax revenue, it doesn't produce meaningful improvement when you look at the debt to the output. standard & poor's took a similar tone saying the agreement did little to put the country's finances on, quote, more sustainable footing. you remember the last time this debt ceiling thing happened and it pushed to the ceiling.

we lost 635 points on the dow because we did get a downgrade and now it's out there again. joe? >> felicia taylor, thanks so much for that. >> sure. secretary of state hillary clinton is planning to return to work next week. we don't know if work includes testifying about that terror attack on a u.s. diplomatic mission in libya. clinton was discharged yesterday from a new york hospital after being treated for a blood clot. her spokesperson expects her to make a full recovery but no word on when she might testify about benghazi. the list of countries without starbucks continues to shrink. the first starbucks in vietnam is expected to open next month. in china and asia, there are 4300 stars. starbucks currently operate in 61 countries. na